For US President Joe Biden, the case of Afghanistan is the worst-case scenario – domestically and in front of the world’s eyes. A few weeks ago, Biden said at a press conference that the Taliban could not take over Afghanistan and that the world’s largest armed force and its allies would withdraw in an orderly manner. The president even made the fatal comparison that, as in the case of Saigon, helicopters would not be seen over Kabul in a panic to rescue compatriots. It got worse: It wasn’t just helicopters who had to evacuate, people clung to US planes in panic.
Biden is charged with failing as the leader of the free Western world. Whether this accusation is really justified as a personal failure in the matter or not is irrelevant: Biden is responsible, he was chosen for that. According to their own admission, the secret services misjudged the situation. It is hard to believe that all of the Taliban’s activities went undetected. The surveillance of the world has now been organized almost perfectly by the US services.
It must be hard to bear, especially for the US Democrats, that of all people, his predecessor Donald Trump is calling for Biden’s resignation “in disgrace”: Trump had ordered the withdrawal at the time, allegedly against the will of the military leadership, which had demanded that there be one There should have been an exit plan not only for US troops but also for the country.
For many observers, it is frightening that NATO was apparently caught off guard: In any case, the statement by General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg on Friday does not indicate that the NATO leadership was prepared for such an abrupt end to its mission. On Sunday Stoltenberg had assured on Twitter that NATO was helping to secure Kabul airport in order to facilitate and coordinate evacuations. But just one day later everything was wasted.
Domestically, it will also be difficult for Biden because all those who reject his course in Russia will now mobilize against him: Biden had met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and stressed that one had to work with Moscow. A little later, the President cleared the last obstacles against Nord Stream 2 out of the way. Democratic and Republican hardliners raged. You will now question the President’s ability to be a reliable figure as Commander-in-Chief.
The panicked prints from Kabul are devastating for the authority of the president of a superpower whose image has been badly damaged by the many endless wars. Above all, however, the chaos in Afghanistan is damaging the western democracies as a form of government that for decades has liked to present itself as a superior model. Many autocrats will rub their hands together and say: There you see it, it’s better for everyone if a country is ruled by a strong hand – at least the chain of command works in war. In connection with the pandemic upheavals in the west, the events in Afghanistan are likely to fuel the debate about freedom and democracy. In Beijing in particular, the chaos of the Americans and the West will be viewed with satisfaction. With its authoritarian approach, China’s first comments from Beijing show that it is better suited to mastering the complex geopolitical challenges.
The war in Afghanistan was an illegal undertaking from the start. During the war there were countless human rights violations, it was a dirty war. The Austrian-Afghan journalist Emran Feroz writes: “The excesses of violence by the western military powers are flying back like a boomerang.” Illegal executions, killings with drones, night raids, no consideration for civilians – the occupiers spared no one. One of the leaders of the Taliban who are now taking power was in Guantanamo. It is not surprising that the Western powers fear the revenge of those whose blood is on their hands.
With the fiasco in Afghanistan, the US government receives the bill for the betrayal of its own values. The president is making it too easy for himself to blame the Afghan army as he did in his speech on Monday.
Joe Biden has to worry, especially against the background of the failure in Afghanistan: Because a world power that acts unrestrained in a state of lawlessness is not a role model for others. It is fought, also outside of the law, and to the bitter end.